In a basement in Siksika Nation, a young musician is sitting down at his drum kit – a new one his parents just bought him for his birthday. He puts his headphones on and turns on a song. He picks up his sticks and attempts to play along to the fast beats on the song. After 20 minutes, sweat pours down his forehead and he takes off his headphones. He looks around his basement to the posters on the wall. His eyes meet one for Moments Fest, the festival put on by local heroes No More Moments. He puts his headphones back on and continues to play along to the song, “Skateboard King,” knowing that with enough practice, he will be one step closer to playing gigs and getting good enough to play the festival.
This is an example of the next generation of indigenous musicians influenced by Calgarian punk band No More Moments. The band started in 2008 and is made up of drummer Carlin Black Rabbit, Quarthon Bear Chief (vocals), Cory White (bass) and Oscar Black (guitar). The band has been an anchor of inspiration. Musically, for rising to the top of the Albertan punk scene – playing shows with legends such as Propagandhi and Dayglo Abortions. Socially and culturally – for drummer Carlin Black Rabbit’s positive influence on the community, being a band counsellor for Siksika Nation, which culminated in significant affairs such as a trip to the UK as part of a delegation to retrieve items from the Royal Albert Memorial Museum.Black Rabbit says of his responsibilities as band counsellor, “It’s something I take very seriously. I’ve been in this role for six years now. It’s an election process which happens every two years and I’m serving my third term. It’s an honor because the people in my community trust me and know what I bring to the table. It’s not like your traditional Canadian politics – it’s the people in your community that you’re serving. You have to be there around the clock. It’s really important to be there for them.”He says that it was something he’s always wanted to do since he was young. “I always knew I was a leader and had these qualities and punk rock music really made me find that calling in my life. So, creating these opportunities and helping people falls in line with being a tribal council member.”The release of No More Moments’ new EP Quarter Life Crisis (Cursed Blessings Records) in 2022 marks 10 years since their first, Moments Reborn, was put out in 2012. The album features a guest appearance by Citizen Rage vocalist Mark Russell on the song “Problem Child,” a song which speaks about wrongfully guided hate or discrimination with the lyrics “The government never cared about you. And they sure as hell don’t care about me.”Russell says of his contributions to the song and lyrical content, “My part comes from the narrative we’ve been force fed at a young age by the Canadian educational system. I never heard about the residential school system until I was far away from school, and even then, it was so far buried and finding any education on the matter was almost impossible. But I sure did color a ton of maps and learn about a shit pile of white colonists I didn’t care about though. So, my part of that song is calling out the system to do better, calling out us to do better. We’ve seen politicians and their greedy corporate counterparts spew hatred and destroy our earth piece by piece…Maybe it’s time to put our future in the hands of people who will preserve it and protect it.”
Russell met Black Rabbit around 2009-2010 and says of their relationship, “He and the others have been family for a long time now.” Russell has also assisted the band in a promotional and managerial position, being a figurehead in the Calgary Beer Core community. He says of why he believes in the band, “It’s easy, I believe in them because they believe in themselves. Sounds corny and all, but it’s the truth. Hard work and dedication have made NMM what it is today. I’ve seen them grow up, I’ve seen them struggle, I’ve seen them lose countless friends and family. They wear all of that on their sleeves, true… punk… rock.”Their name being tied to a Misfits song and the band’s ties to the punk and hardcore community means No More Moments are usually categorized as a punk band, though the members are influenced by various musical genres, allowing the songs to go into different territories on Quarter Life Crisis. Songs such as the black metal-esque “All My Evil Friends Have Settled Down” articulate the album title – when some people hit their ‘30s, playing shows and flexing your creative muscle becomes secondary to simply supporting your family by bringing in the bread and butter.
“We’re all family men and finding the time to gig – it’s all about planning and organizing and communication – those core, basic characteristics” says Black Rabbit. “We’re lucky to have made the band work in that way.”
The Moments Fest began in 2015 as a festival that would highlight local bands mixed in with cultural activities and demonstrations. In 2020, the event was unfortunately canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. It returned with a vengeance with the 2022 edition. Taking place at the Siksika Piiksapi Memorial Arbour, it featured over 20 artists including local bands like Citizen Rage and Forbidden Dimension, along with powerhouses like WAKE and B.C. punk legends Dayglo Abortions. In addition to the Moments Fests, other events held in Siksika have been thrown to help promote the artistic scene of the community such as 2019’s Siksika Nation Youth and Arts Expo, which featured in addition to bands, a skateboard competition, art contest, silent auction, round dance and children’s carnival.Black Rabbit says of how the festival came about, “The idea of the Moments Fest was about bringing more bands to the community. A lot of the bands I’d talk to said they always wanted to play at the reserve. When we finally ran the first one, we had two stages and 10 bands. It just started to grow each year. We looked at a few festivals for inspiration – Loud as Hell, Alberta Metal Fest, Terminus – how they were running things like doing band submissions. I took a lot from the people I knew.”Black Rabbit reveals he wanted to gear it more towards the kids and the youth, “A lot of these kids don’t have the transportation to get to Calgary. Siksika is an hour out of Calgary. So, bringing in a large-scale event to the community creates excitement. For these small towns or communities that don’t get a lot of music – everyone shows up.”Future plans for the Moments Fest include making it as barrier-free as possible, “If someone maybe can’t afford the admission price, or just added costs of having to come down like paying for gas – I’m trying to make it more of like a pay-what-you-can festival. We’re not about making money, it’s all about creating the experience. That is something I’m going to stay true to.”Black Rabbit is also looking to integrate more cultural elements into the festival, such as letting the attendees stay in and even assemble teepees. “We’ll have a wooden stove for you and whatever else you may need, and you get that full experience. Furthermore, I’d like to incorporate more of the traditional aspects of Siksika like having elders doing storytelling or a pow wow and drumming.”
Riding the momentum of this year’s Moments Fest, which was the biggest in its history, Black Rabbit still has the fire and ambition to see No More Moments continue to grow, with a 2023 tour already booked and aspirations to take the band abroad. Where No More Moments will be in another 15 years and how they will be perceived, Black Rabbit states, “I think it would be awesome to see a No More Moments cover album. But yeah, I’m hoping that we’re all still well and healthy and we all still have this passion for it and I’m confident that we’ll reach that mark.”As for the young musicians in their basement citing Black Rabbit and No More Moments as inspiration, Black Rabbit is both humble and grateful – “I’m always filled with gratitude when I hear we’ve inspired them. It’s a lot to take in because I remember being that kid telling these other bands “Hey, you’re inspiring me,” so it’s full circle for me.
The 2023 edition of the Moments Fest will take place September 2 and 3. This year’s edition will see Calling All Captains, Mares of Thrace, Forbidden Dimension, Single Mothers and Owls and Eagles share the stage with No More Moments, with additional bands being announced July 3.
